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McCain and the Supreme Court
Wall Street Journal ^ | 02/04/08 | STEVEN G. CALABRESI and JOHN O. MCGINNIS

Posted on 02/03/2008 10:22:48 PM PST by Yomin Postelnik

We believe that the nomination of John McCain is the best option to preserve the ongoing restoration of constitutional government. He is by far the most electable Republican candidate remaining in the race, and based on his record is as likely to appoint judges committed to constitutionalism as Mitt Romney, a candidate for whom we also have great respect.

We make no apology for suggesting that electability must be a prime consideration. The expected value of any presidential candidate for the future of the American judiciary must be discounted by the probability that the candidate will not prevail in the election. For other kinds of issues, it may be argued that it is better to lose with the perfect candidate than to win with an imperfect one. The party lives to fight another day and can reverse the bad policies of an intervening presidency.

(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: invasion; mccain; primary; rino; romney; supertuesday
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To: AKSurprise

He wouldn’t care much about that one issue as Pres. He’d care much more about keeping his base.


21 posted on 02/04/2008 12:13:53 AM PST by Yomin Postelnik (Realistically It's McCain or Hillary)
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To: Yomin Postelnik; Maelstorm; eclecticEel; Neidermeyer; claudiustg; Dad yer funny
"We believe that the nomination of John McCain is the best option to preserve the ongoing restoration of constitutional government."

And the Constitutional oath to protect the states from invasion?

What about the ongoing invasion?

Constitutional government my a$$.

22 posted on 02/04/2008 12:36:09 AM PST by Sir Francis Dashwood (LET'S ROLL!)
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To: Neidermeyer
John McCain is the best option to preserve the ongoing restoration of constitutional government.

Do they include the CONSTITUTIONAL requirement that the states be protected from invasion?

Crickets...

23 posted on 02/04/2008 12:39:31 AM PST by Sir Francis Dashwood (LET'S ROLL!)
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To: SirJohnBarleycorn

Is this an editorial translated from the Spanish version of the Wall Street Journal???


24 posted on 02/04/2008 12:48:05 AM PST by Sir Francis Dashwood (LET'S ROLL!)
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To: Sir Francis Dashwood
Is this an editorial translated from the Spanish version of the Wall Street Journal???

WSJ has been open borders all along. They consider Juan's immigration stance to be an asset.

25 posted on 02/04/2008 12:57:18 AM PST by rogue yam
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To: Yomin Postelnik

This is a great article. Still, if I could, I would pull the lever for Huck or Mitt tomorrow.

Why can’t people see that any of the 3 are CLEARLY better than HillaryObama?


26 posted on 02/04/2008 1:27:36 AM PST by guitarist
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To: Maelstorm
I don’t like it but it is true.

It's giving some bad dreams...

"Don't exhale there, buster! Carbon, dontchaknow!"

27 posted on 02/04/2008 1:37:22 AM PST by Caipirabob (Communists... Socialists... Democrats...Traitors... Who can tell the difference?)
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To: Yomin Postelnik

John McCain is the best man left for the Republican nomination and for President of these United States.


28 posted on 02/04/2008 3:19:01 AM PST by ricks_place
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To: Maelstorm

How many years have we been listening to this Crap!
The country comes closer and closer to destruction and we are told to accept aHoles . Just stuff it


29 posted on 02/04/2008 3:51:56 AM PST by ballplayer
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To: Caipirabob

No play, for Mr. Gray!

Mitt is the one!


30 posted on 02/04/2008 6:34:41 AM PST by claudiustg (Sic Semper Tyrannus)
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To: Yomin Postelnik

If I actually believed McCain had ANY chance at winning in November, I’d feel a lot less uncomfortable with him winning the nomination, because at least he is somewhat likely to appoint good judges.

On the other hand, the article downplays McCain’s desire to get along with his real friends on the democratic side of the Senate. That desire is reflected in his statement that he wouldn’t necessarily appoint a judge like Alito who would be a “stick in the eye”, so to speak, of his buddies.

He’d rather pick a guy that can get a solid majority, meaning a good number of Democrats.

Now, what candidate could you pick who would be the deciding vote for overturning Roe, and would get more than one or two democrats?

Answer: one that is a stealth candidate, like Souter and Roberts, both of whom raised some doubts as to what they would really do.

Actually, it remains to be seen if Roberts would be a vote to overturn Roe, but we know how Souter turned out.

McCain loves to be loved, and that will play against him fighting really hard for a conservative judge.


31 posted on 02/04/2008 7:19:24 AM PST by CharlesWayneCT
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To: Mojave

Appointments to the federal bench, especially appeals and supreme court, are fundamentally different than appointees to law courts, where the judges simply preside over everyday criminal cases.

We do not have a party litmus test for the job of judge at a state criminal court level. If we did, republicans lawyers would never get any judgeships under a democratic governor, of which a majority are right now.

If we are going to insist that the democrats not block judges based solely on their stated political positions, we have to sustain the same principle the other way.

It’s not a judge’s politics, it’s their judicial philosophy.

The judges that can CHANGE law at the appeals and supreme court level, they are the ones we need to push NOT because they are republican, but because they rightly understand the law and what is constitutional. Believe it or not, there are democrats who actually understand that, but I don’t expect a republican to be appointing one to the supreme court.


32 posted on 02/04/2008 7:24:06 AM PST by CharlesWayneCT
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To: Yomin Postelnik

Sorry, Romney’s conservatism is rising, and McCain’s is falling. His 7-year average is around 73%, off his lifetime 82%, and his last year was 67%.

In the general election, I’d take 67% over 8%. But not in a primary, not while one of those 8%ers is actually endorsing McCain.


33 posted on 02/04/2008 7:25:27 AM PST by CharlesWayneCT
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To: Yomin Postelnik
This logic gives me a sick feeling in my stomach -- Remember, 7 of the 9 Supreme Court justices at the time of Kelo vs New London were appointed by Republicans.

Our rights are already being eroded. McCain will not stem the tide. The erosion will continue.

34 posted on 02/04/2008 7:26:38 AM PST by MrsEmmaPeel
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To: Yomin Postelnik

John McCain will not want to send up a judge they would vote down. He complained about fighting too hard for Alito. He thinks there is good in broad bipartisan cooperation.

He will send up a judge he thinks can GET a large bipartisan vote. That’s what he is all about. He loves to be loved.


35 posted on 02/04/2008 7:26:45 AM PST by CharlesWayneCT
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To: Yomin Postelnik

I’m confused... How does the Gang of 14 leader have a record showing he would nominate constitutionalist judges? How has the first-amendment limiting senator shown he respects that document and the principles embedded therein?

Snake oil, mixed liberally with venom. That is what they are selling.


36 posted on 02/04/2008 7:28:16 AM PST by MortMan (Have a pheasant plucking day!)
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To: Maelstorm
John McCain is the best man left.

That's certainly a matter of opinion, and it is not an opinion I share.

37 posted on 02/04/2008 7:40:26 AM PST by MEGoody (Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.)
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To: Yomin Postelnik

No candidate who advocates amnesty deserves my vote.


38 posted on 02/04/2008 7:43:36 AM PST by trisham (Zen is not easy. It takes effort to attain nothingness. And then what do you have? Bupkis.)
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To: MortMan

I respectfully disagree. The Gang of 14, in retrospect, saved us from having a Democrat controlled Senate without the availability of the filibuster (take it away for one thing and they’d remove it for everything else). At the very least, a Dem president would then be able to nominate whoever he/she wanted to the bench.
They also got 5 conservative judges passed at the expense of 2, whose nominations were replaced with other conservative judges. It wasn’t perfect but we came out ahead.


39 posted on 02/04/2008 10:20:36 AM PST by Yomin Postelnik (Realistically It's McCain or Hillary)
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To: trisham

That may be true, but his position was the same as President Bush’s, Trent Lott and a number of other conservative senators. He’s now to the right of them. Mitt called it a sound decision at the time and would probably back something similar when push came to shove.


40 posted on 02/04/2008 10:22:05 AM PST by Yomin Postelnik (Realistically It's McCain or Hillary)
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